[USFK Forums] North Korea issues warning over drills [AP]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Tuesday, March 28, 2006

North Korea issues warning over drills

Posted 3/27/2006 8:28 AM by USA TODAY

SEOUL (AP) - North Korea warned Washington of "grave consequences" Monday over a military exercise in South Korea, repeating a suggestion it has the ability to launch a pre-emptive attack on the United States.

The harsh comments were the latest in a series of anti-American missives issued by the communist state to condemn an annual drill between the militaries of South Korea and the United States. The North brands the drill as a rehearsal for an invasion.

About 25,000 U.S. troops and an undisclosed number of South Korean soldiers are participating in the weeklong exercise, dubbed RSOI and Foal Eagle, which began Saturday. South Korea and the United States say the drill is purely defensive.

"The U.S. should know that a pre-emptive strike is not its monopoly," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "The U.S. should take full responsibility for grave consequences that the reckless war exercise will bring about."

The commentary did not spell out what those "grave consequences" were. Statements made by the North's state-controlled media are strictly in line with the government's position and often precede official pronouncements.

The North made similar threats Tuesday. In recent weeks, totalitarian leader Kim Jong Il has significantly increased visits to his troops.

"Our army and people are turning out as one in the sacred anti-U.S. struggle with burning hatred for the U.S. imperialist aggressors and the unshakable resolution to take revenge upon them," Kim was quoted as saying during a Saturday visit to a military unit.

The North also canceled a scheduled inter-Korean Cabinet-level meeting to protest the exercise.

About 29,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrence against North Korean invasion, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. The conflict ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.

Relations between the two Koreas warmed significantly after the first and only summit of their leaders in 2000.

The United States and North Korea have been at a standoff since 2002 over the North's nuclear ambitions. Six-nation talks aimed at resolving the dispute have been stalled since November.

North Korea first declared last year that it has nuclear weapons, although the claim could not be confirmed independently. Experts believe the North has extracted enough plutonium from its main nuclear reactor for at least a half-dozen weapons.


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